Building bridges across subdisciplines in marine ecology

Abstract

SUMMARY: Ecology has evolved many subdisciplines whose members do not necessarily communicate regularly through attending the same meetings or reading and publishing in the same journals. As a result, explanations of ecological processes are often limited to a single factor, process, or group of organisms, and this limited approach may fail to provide the best understanding of how communities and ecosystems are assembled and function. Specifically, there is a need to bring together information on the interplay of top-down and bottom-up influences on complete communities consisting of both macroorganisms and microorganisms. A number of examples from the recent literature illustrate the problems encountered in achieving this goal. These include declining fish populations, estuarine eutrophication, the complex origin of a toxic dinoflagellate bloom, and the interactions of microorganisms and macrooorganisms in marine planktonic food webs.Key words: bridging subdisciplines, top-down, bottom-up, eutrophication, overfishing, dinoflagellate blooms. RESUMEN: TENDER PUENTES ENTRE SUBDISCIPLINAS EN ECOLOGÍA MARINA. -La ecología ha dado lugar a muchas subdisciplinas cuyos miembros no se comunican necesariamente de manera regular, pues no asisten a las mismas reuniones ni leen o publican en las mismas revistas. El resultado es que las explicaciones de los procesos ecológicos se suelen limitar a un único factor, proceso o grupo de organismos, y este enfoque limitado puede no proporcionar la mejor manera de comprender cómo están ensamblados y funcionan las comunidades y los ecosistemas. Más en concreto, es necesario aunar información sobre la interacción del control desde arriba y del control desde abajo sobre comunidades completas constituidas tanto por macroorganismos como por microorganismos. Varios ejemplos de la bibliografía reciente ilustran los problemas que se plantean a la hora de conseguir este objetivo. Entre ellos están la reducción en las poblaciones de peces, la eutrofización estuárica, el complejo origen de una proliferación de dinoflagelados tóxicos y las interacciones entre microorganismos y macroorganismos en las redes tróficas planctónicas marinas.Palabras clave: puentes entre subdisciplinas, control desde arriba, control desde abajo, eutrofización, sobrepesca, proliferaciones de dinoflagelados.

The Microbial Loop

“…Megaplankton, such as medusae, have not been included, although this would not materially change the picture. Compiled from Ducklow (1999), Pomeroy (2004), and Robinson and Williams (2005) odically by large swimming or falling organisms, fecal particles, and microscopic aggregates composed of all of the organic and inorganic particulate material in seawater. finally by fishes (Ducklow et al, 1986).…”

L. R. Pomeroy (1925–2020)

“…He also remained very interested in models for their own sake and as heuristics for hypothesis building and testing (e.g. Pace et al 1984; Pomeroy 2004). Overall, this collaborative multi‐investigator work spanned almost 50 years and the Southeastern Atlantic Bight, from the estuaries to the Gulfstream, was his testbed for hypotheses relating to material and energy flow in coastal waters.…”